Tuesday, July 11, 2017

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Missing Abiola Irele

I will really miss Abiola Irele.

There are certain things one understands better only when it is too late, having blindly related to the world as if immortality was assured, and there would be enough time to do all that needs to be done.

He was one of my dedicated fans, though I performed below expectation too many times, in the spirit of a person drunk on opportunity, the variety a haze blocking clarity of vision.

One might not understand what love is at times, until it is gone.

On the long journey of trying to understand who I really am, he gave me a lot of support, giving unqualified identification to my choice of social media and self publishing online platforms as primary scholarly publicisation systems, on the basis of which he offered me sterling opportunities in mainstream academic publication, some of which I was wise enough to make the most of.

I have never been completely at home with schooling and academia in their currently globally dominant sense, and Irele's appreciation of my efforts as I sought to find my own way has been central fuel in that struggle.

He is a colossus, yet always appreciative of any effort one makes to highlight his inimitable radiance.

Something important is gone from my life.What flows in to occupy the void thus created?

The memory of the coruscation of power that is the master. The foregrounding of the abyss against which one must measure oneself.

I have so much I want to share with you. Work already done which I saw myself as too occupied to share. Work in progress which is likely to delight him. That attentive ear is gone from the space we long shared.